photo credit: Arielle Gutierrez

*Editor’s note: the included pictures are from the band’s Cactus Music instore, not their Fitzgerald’s performance. I don’t have the photo cred I once did in this tiny town.

I’ve personally seen Matt Vasquez live five times now: three as the frontman for San Diego’s Delta Spirit, and twice as a member of elite superband Middle Brother (including supemembers of Dawes and Deer Tick) and I can say, as an undeniable fact: that man is certifiably insane. I don’t mean rock star insane like how you’d classify Andrew W.K. or Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington. I mean, lock your children up, a human hurricane of unchecked emotion is coming, and it is destructive as fuck.

Hit the jump for the full recap.

– sunbear

There was no telling what erratic direction Delta Spirit’s Thursday night show at a bursting at the seams Fitzgerald’s would take at any second. One song, “Tellin’ the Mind,” the five piece band is a blitzkrieg of unbridled lightning, driving their percussive jolt into the ears and bodies of all attendees, moving them and the foundation of Fitz (that old Fitz-adage“I could feel the house swaying?” Very real). The next song, “House Built for Two,” a ragged, emotional ballad dedicated to his mama, Vasquez actually turned away from the crowd for more than a moment to wipe a very real tear from his face. That one affecting act alone prompted a venue’s worth of “Did he just really cry?” responses from the packed house, every last body hanging onto the emotional rollercoaster Vasquez was riding and making very public.

photo credit: Arielle Gutierrez

Once recovered, the man was back on blast leading an arsenal sing-a-long to their gritty, Tom Waits-y saloon jaunt “People C’mon.” And that wasn’t the only song that had the dedicated, albeit brotastic crowd stomping and wailing. Oldies “Children” and set-closer “Trash Can,” played yes, on a trash can, brought the house down prematurely, with the latter number finding Tasmanian devil Vasquez ripping the stage lights from their tracks and beaming them into the faces of his adoring subjects. Have fun replacing those, Fitzgerald’s.

I had arrived at the venue with doubts about the crowd (“Have you heard of The Killers? They’re like my all-time favorite band”), but all were putty in the collective hands of Delta Spirit, whose flailing, clap-happy frontman led the crammed house into rock euphoria, hooting and hollering and soaking in alcohol, which Vasquez admitted to being appreciative of. Hey man, we’re just happy crazies like you have found their calling as the face of a rock band rather than cooped up in a nut house.

Set List

Empty House
White Table
Strange Vine
Tear It Up
Idaho
Parade
Tellin’ the Mind
Time Bomb
House Built for Two
Bushwick Blues
People C’Mon
Yamaha
Children
California

Devil Knows You’re Dead
Money Saves
Trash Can